Four Barbary lion cubs played in their outdoor enclosure at the Safari Park in Dvůr Králové.

The three females and one male soaked up the sun alongside their mother, Khalila, and father, Bart.

The family group will be broken up soon, however, as the Czech zoo is part of an international endangered species program.

That means the cubs will be sent to other participating parks, including the Beersheba Zoo in Israel.

“Essentially, the purpose of every zoo is to participate in international breeding programs,” said Jaroslav Hyjánek, deputy director of Dvůr Králové Safari Park.

“Without international breeding programs, there is no point in zoos existing at all.”

A majestic member of the northern lion subspecies, the Barbary lion once roamed freely across its native North Africa, including the Atlas Mountains.

A symbol of strength, it was almost completely wiped out due to human activity.

Many were killed by gladiators in Roman times, while overhunting and habitat loss contributed to their extinction.

The last known photo of a wild Barbary lion was taken in 1925, and the last confirmed individual was killed in 1942.

It’s believed the last small populations went extinct in the wild in the mid-1960s.

Fewer than 200 are estimated to live in captivity today.

AP video by Stanislav Hodina